Yeah, pretty obvious isn’t it? Well, unless you’re a government official that is…

The regulation in question are the city’s stormwater control ordinance, tree ordinance and urban-street design guidelines. A new analysis by two Johnson C. Smith University professors and a lawyer conclude that these regulations drive up home prices by an average of $17,000, which in turn limits housing affordability.

The study, commissioned by the Piedmont Public Policy Institute, concluded that housing in Charlotte is unaffordable for families earning 90 percent or less of the city’s median income, or around $52,000 a year from 2010 to 2012. That’s about 140,000 households, according to Census Bureau data from 2010.

The federal government defines housing as affordable if the occupant pays 30 percent or less of his or her income.

and:

Thomas Brasse, managing director of the development firm Faison Enterprises Inc., said that land-use regulations are well-intentioned but often increase the cost of housing beyond what the developer anticipates. Every $1 of money toward land-use regulation adds between $4 and $5 to the final cost of a home, Padilla said.